


The Beginning of the Storm

by MisteryMaiden



Series: There Be Demons Among Us [1]
Category: Detective Conan
Genre: supernatural happenings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 22:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1178711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisteryMaiden/pseuds/MisteryMaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kudo Shinichi is sixteen going on seven, still trapped in the body of Edogawa Conan. Or so he thought. At exactly 1:09 am, his time of birth, something strange and amazing and what should be completely impossible happens. Suddenly everything he knew must be questioned and new allies are found in tne fight against tne shady criminal organisation that once tried to kill him. But with new allies and new rules come new problems that are far more terrifying than anything Shinichi has ever faced before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. With Eyes Unclouded, We Will Finally See

**Author's Note:**

> Shinichi was 16 when he was poisoned in this story, and has been hiding with the Mouri's for nearly a year. 
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes or misspelled words but I'm typing this on a 3DS as I have no access to any other computer system at this time. For some reason you can actually write on the mobile version of this site, unlike FF.net. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Any suggestions would be appreciated! ;“)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I said when beginning this story that once I had a laptop and not only a 3Ds I'd fix what I could. Well, now I've a laptop and I'm keeping that promise by fixing up the chapters and such. I hope you enjoy the fixed version!

It was strange, Shinichi decided, watching the world pass you by with nothing to show for it. Sixteen years old and going on seven, this was not how the teenage detective wanted to spend his High School career; stuck in the first grade and running around solving murders behind the scene by knocking out Kogoro and changing his voice to match the man's with a secret gadget his old next-door neighbor made him.

No, this was no how he envisioned his High School years. His birthday was tomorrow and he couldn't even celebrate turning another year older without causing suspicion. It would be strange if Kudo Shinichi's look-alike cousin had the same birthday as he did, after all. Conan's birthday was about three weeks after Shinichi's on May 23rd, not May 4th; still the same month but not nearly as strange as it would be if they were on the same day.

He hated it. Shinichi hated the lies, hated living a different life, he hated being a child again. It wasn't fair that he was forced to hide or put everyone he knew and loved in danger. It just was fair. Yet it was his fault that he was in this situation in the first place. If he'd never followed those Men in Black at Tropical Land he would be home right now instead of sitting here in the Mouri Agency, waiting for an even somewhat interesting case to come through the front door. Ran was out with Sonoko and wouldn't be back until late. Kogoro was out wasting money on Mahjong and wouldn't be back until Ran went to find him or the clubs closed at about 4 am. That left Shinichi alone for the most part, and he wouldn't be able to go to Agasa's since both as the professor and Haibara were just coming back from a Science Convention and didn't want company until tomorrow.

'Ugh, it looks like I'm stuck entertaining myself tonight.' Shinichi (he didn't have to be Conan with no one around) grumbled. There was no way that he was going to call any of the Shounen Tantei; he wasn't going to rely on children to amuse him. Shinichi refused to sink that low. The phone ringing brought the not-child out of his thoughts. He frowned as he realized that it was his Shinichi phone that was ringing. The ID read Kaa-san and Tou-san. Shinichi began to worry. His parents never called him, for any reason. They usually just showed up to tel. him whatever they found so important. "Moshi, moshi?" Shinichi answered, hesitantly.

"Shinichi," his father said seriously on the other end of the phone. "How are you?"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow, unsure where his father was going with that question. "Alright, what's going on?" There was no way his father was calling to ask how he was doing. It just didn't happen. Ever. Not since before his parents had left him behind years ago when they began travelling around the world.

"Your mother has called Ran-san and told her that Edogawa Conan will be coming home for the weekend to spend time with family. Perhaps to stay permanently, it has yet to be decided." His father continued as if Shinichi hadn’t even asked a question. It irked the not child immensely.

"I'll bite." Shinichi growled, annoyed at having his question dismissed. "Why?"

"You need to go to the house tonight. You'll understand why when we get there tomorrow until then do not do anything. Do you understand?"

His father rarely gave him direct orders so whatever it was, it was going on had to be serious and probably in a deadly way. Kudo Yuusaku wasn't known for taking little things and overreacting (that was more Yukiko’s area). So Shinichi was going to do exactly what his father said with minimal protest. "I'll see you tomorrow then." A faint click signified that his father had hung up. Shinichi sighed he might as well gather some clothes for the next day as well as a night bag if he was going home for the night.

* * *

 

The house had been recently cleaned due to his parents hiring someone to come in every month and wipe everything down. They had decided that was the safest route to make sure the BO didn't suspect him of being alive. Shinichi found he preferred this arrangement, not even wanting to contemplate how hard it would be to clean the entire manor-like-house at his child size. It was a horrifying thought.

_'Just what am I supposed to be waiting for?'_ Tou-san was obviously worried about something that was going to happen tonight but Shinichi couldn't think of anything that would cause him to send his son back home, a rather dangerous place to be at the moment for the not-child. His phone was ringing again. Shinichi frowned as he saw the ID read Hattori Heiji. What was the Osakan calling for?

"Hattori?" he answered. "What's up?"

Hattori snorted. "Haven'tya looked a' tha time yet, Kudo? Ah said ah'd call ya at eleven so Neechan could havetha honors o' midnigh'."

Huh, it was that late already? Shinichi blinked at the clock with startled eyes, ignoring Hattori's snickers on the other end. "Ah, gomen. I lost track of the time." The mystery of his fathers’ call had pushed his birthday from the forefront of his mind and he'd forgotten about Hattori's call completely.

"So Neechan wasn' kindin' when she said ya forget yer birthday unless some’ne re’inds ya," the Osakan sounded far too amused for Shinichi's comfort. "Anyways, ah just wanted ta say happy bir'hday. I got ta go, though, Kazuha's lookin' annoyed." There was a distinct click as other hung up.

* * *

 

Ran called at exactly midnight causing Shinichi to smile as they talked. It had seemed like something was missing the few times he managed to call her over the last few months but for once they weren't struggling to connect with each other. It was a nice change.

They managed to keep the conversation going for an hour, hanging up at one. Not even a minute after putting his cell phone away, Shinichi felt an intense pain course through his body. He fought back a scream as the pain intensified causing him to drop his bow-tie voice changer to the ground. He bent over, panting heavily as the pain pelted him from the inside out.

Shinichi screamed as the pain took over, collapsing on the floor and curling up into the tightest ball that his body would allow him to. This was more intense and far more painful than his transformations into Conan had ever been before. The worst part was that he couldn't find a reason for it. He hadn't taken any prototype antidotes or drank any alcohol.

So what was triggering this change? Shinichi didn't have time to really ponder it much as the change truly began and his body started to expand, resizing and most importantly, growing to his proper weight, height, and age. In minutes he was Kudo Shinichi in both mind and body once more. It was one of the quickest transformations Shinichi had ever had since he had begun taking the prototype cures. The sleuth had to admit that he was rather relieved about that tiny detail as he wasn’t sure if he’d have been able to take that much more of it.

_'Tou-san better have a wonderful explanation for this,'_ the exhausted teen thought to himself as he slowly moved from his spot on the floor to the nearby couch, promptly passing out once he reached his destination.

* * *

 

Shinichi woke up to his mother's face staring over him. The drowsy teen had to fight the urge to shriek at her sudden appearance and felt more than a little surprise at the sunlight streaming in the windows of the manor. _'Damn, how long was I out?'_

"Yuu-chan! Shin-chan's awake!" Yukiko called into the once empty manor household. His father appeared from in the main hall almost immediately. He looked relieved to see his son awake.

"Tou-san," Shinichi greeted the man. He received a smile in return.

"You have questions but I can answer very few of them for I don’t hold all the answers. I can, however, tell you about our clan and the secrets that it holds." Yuusaku drew in a deep breath. "We are a clan of Shape Shifters; beings able to change our form to any person or animal we wish to copy. However, for some reason the ability, the magic in our genes began to skip generations. I felt there was no real reason to inform you any sooner as we'd no idea if you'd inherited the ability or not. As you grew older, it became clear that you were able to do things that others weren't."

Shinichi frowned, confused. He had no memory of doing anything strange or magical as a child and yet here his father was saying that he had showed signs of holding the family magic (something which he was still somewhat skeptical about). Clearly there was something wrong with this story, either his father was lying to him or his memory (his eidetic memory) had been tampered with. The sleuth wasn't sure that he liked that idea as it meant that his parents had breached a sacred part of his body, something that was his and his alone and was not theirs to tamper with. His mother's face was the clear give away as she looked away from his hard stare in guilt.

"You were too young to be taught the dangers of being a magical being. So when you began Shifting in front of Ran, having the grandest time, I took matters into my own hands." Yuusaku sighed. "I wiped both of your memories and sealed the magic with a small seal that would break when your magic came into its majority on your seventeenth birthday. It was the only way that I could protect you at the time, what with the uproar that was happening in the supernatural society. You would have been taken from us to be trained as neither your mother nor I are Shifters. It was the only way that we could keep you with us."

The seventeen year old boy gave his father a hard stare as the man bowed his head but Shinichi understood. He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He wouldn't have preferred the other option either and at least this way he had grown up knowing his parents and living with Ran. "And why are you just now telling me this? I would have been more prepared had I known months ago about all of this. I would have at least had more hope that I would get back to my real age."

That brought up another good question: How was he going to explain the disappearance of Conan to Haibara and Agasa? Ran would covered, as she didn't know that Conan and Shinichi were the same people but Haibara would be confused as to why he had suddenly turned back for no good reason, as would the professor. The grimace on his face must have spoke volumes to his silent parents. "That's going to be a problem. Plus the BO is still around and they can't really know that I didn't die as that would put Haibara in danger..." Shinichi cursed.

"There might be a way," Yukiko piqued up excitedly. "You're a Shape Shifter, Shin-chan. I've seen Yuu-chan's grandfather turn into anything from a rhino from a copy of Yuu-chan himself. Why not try turning back? You've done it enough times it should be second nature to your body and it should also be less painful!"

Shinichi blinked in astonishment, never having thought of that. He'd never really needed to be anything other than himself before recent why would he even consider turning into another person (even if that other person was really only a younger version of himself)?  "I'm not sure how to, though," the teen admitted, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"It should be easy enough," Yuusaku contemplated it for a moment. "I've only ever had enough magic for seals so I can only describe how I learned to use and feel magic. The process should be somewhat similar, however. Close your eyes and relax. Let the feeling of calm take over your body and mind until you feel the light tingle of power in the pit of your gut."

Shinichi frowned but followed his father's instructions not mentioning that the tingle was much more than 'light'. It was probably because of the difference in their magic levels (and he couldn’t believe that he was going along with this as he’d denied the existence of magic all of his life). Shinichi had enough magic to awaken the Shape Shifter gene in his family line while his father's had gone dormant. "Now, allow the tingle to fill your body. You should be able to shape the magic into the form you wish by focusing on the form you want to take."

That was easy; a smaller version of him plus rounded cheeks with much wider eyes and softer, more child-like skin and hair with smaller teeth and a smaller mouth but a large grin and annoyingly short. Always annoyingly short, enough so that he could only just reach the door handle. He focused on the image that he'd seen right after the Men in Black had first shrunk in Tropical Land nearly a year ago.

"Wow Shin-chan! You did it and on your first try, too!" His mother’s voice broke his concentration. Shinichi's eyes snapped open to see that they were both towering over him more than usual which meant that he had done it. He’d actually done it. Looking down, he saw that the clothing his mother had dressed him in while he was unconscious pooled around him in torrents and he grinned. "I did it!" He cheered, noticing he'd even gotten the voice right.

"I'm afraid that's all that I can really teach you," Yuusaku sighed as his son hopped off the couch and jogged to his backpack to put on the spare clothing that he'd brought with him. Soon it looked like the night before had never happened. "But I can give you the key to the room in the attic that holds all the information we have on magic and Shape Shifter abilities. You'll have to learn everything else on your own."

"Hmm," Shinichi hummed in agreement, accepting the key. "It's fine. I'll figure it out. If anything, this is a giant trump card against the Black Organization. I'll be able to escape place easier without they knowing and spy on them with agents seeing only an animal. It's also interesting." He added as an afterthought.

His father smirked, "I thought you'd say that. Make sure to read all the books, Shinichi. Call us if you need anything and be safe."

The teen nodded as he darted up to the stairway that led to the attic. He would need to begin this study session sooner rather than later.

* * *

 

Conan arrived back at the Mouri Agency with half a day left, much to the surprise of Ran. "Oh, Conan-kun!" Ran blinked as she saw the small child burst into the room. "I thought that you were with your parents? Weren't they going to take you back to America with them?"

"They were but Kaa-san and Tou-san decided against it once we got dinner and went to the movies," Conan explained. "They said that they missed me and they wished they could bring me home but they didn't think that it would be a good idea to 'uproot a child from the environment that he's come to expect' or something like that. I'm not sure why, I miss them too." The not-child made a show of pouting at being left behind again.

Ran gave a secretive smile at the child, as if there was something she knew and he didn't before nodding. "Alright then, go ahead and call Agasa-hakase. He seemed worried when he called and heard that you were with your parents. I think he wanted to show you a new invention!"

Conan fought back the shudder that wanted to run through his body at the mention of Agasa's inventions before nodding. "Okay Ran-neechan!" He darted back into the room he shared with Kogoro, knowing it was safe as the man was sleeping on his desk.

Agasa picked up right away, having been waiting for the call. "Ah, Shinichi! What did Yukiko and Yuusaku want?"

"To check in and reconfirm that Conan had parents that actually cared and didn't just dump him on some willing stranger." Conan drawled, not bothering explaining what was really going on. The man wouldn't believe it for one second without proof that Shinichi wasn't willing to provide. Not this time, this was his secret. He was going to at least keep one, just as he let Ai keep some secrets to herself and Agasa keep secrets to himself. It was normal.

"Ah, alright then. About the newest modification on your watch..."

Conan grinned, yes that could work nicely. "You rock, Hakase!" And so he'd keep this one little secret close to his chest and make sure not to tell anyone. Everyone needed a trump card, after all.

"And Shinichi?" Agasa spoke up.

"Aa?" Conan perked.

"Happy Birthday."


	2. Faeries and Elves

Kuroba Kaito was different. Okay, so maybe different wasn't the word for it but it was as close as the people around him were ever going to get. So, to the world in general, Kuroba Kaito was different and that difference was expressed through the art of slight-of-hand and pranks. So the general populace stayed clear of the odd and weird teen. They took precautionary measures to avoid the teen and they were generally relieved when he took a day off of school. It was just the way that things in the school worked: Avoid Kuroba Kaito unless you wanted to be pranked. So the students did.

Kaito didn't mind this, however, as he had one good friend that made up for the lack of any other friends: Nakamori Aoko. The girl was well liked and known for her ability with a mop, not to mention her fiery temper that came from her father. No one quite understood how she became friends with Kuroba Kaito but it was speculated about all over the school.

Kaito found that he didn't care about these rumors or about what people thought about him. He wasn't inclined to care what a bunch of sheep thought about his personality or how he acted in school. Nope, he was completely fine with Aoko being the only one who really talked to him.

Completely fine if not a tad bit lonely.

 Then the witch, Koizumi had come along and messed things up. Flaunting what she was and still having people flock around her instead of quietly enjoying the magic from a safe distance away, Kaito would admit silently that he was jealous though only in his own head. Never aloud, not where someone could hear him and hold the thoughts against him.

The worst part was that Akako had no clue what he was. She was being deliberately ignorant because it should have been obvious after the stunt he pulled with summoning snow from nowhere. The witch acted like it was normal for snow to appear out of nowhere and disrupt a magic circle! It was frustrating to say the least.

Not a few months later had the annoyance named Hakuba arrived and managed to butt his way into both of Kaito's lives without so much as a by-your-leave. The blond detective was a minor inconvenience until Aoko decided she rather liked him and half of the time Kaito usually got with his friend now included the Brit. The others in their class were taken with Hakuba as well, enough that they began looking away from the 'freaky magician' to the 'awesome detective'.

Kaito was beginning to get fed up with it. So he pranked the British upstart as much as he could; which had turned out to be the worst solution, in hindsight.

"Kaitoooooo!" Aoko screeched as she ended up drenched with Hakuba. That had not been the plan.

"It was only supposed to hit Hakuba!" Kaito defended himself. He winced as a tic mark appeared on her forehead. "Sorry Aoko."

Aoko bowed her head in anger. "Just go." She muttered, eyes covered by her hair.

"Wha?" Kaito blinked, fighting to keep his face blank. Hakuba seemed taken aback as well.

"I said go! I’m sick of it Kaito! The pranks, the whispers, the people in the hall that stare! I’m tired of it so just go!"

"You never cared before..." Kaito whispered, feeling his heart constrict. "Why...?"

Aoko looked up, anger clear on her face. "Because I didn't know any different! I didn't know what it was like to have people look at you normally or just gaze past you, or talk _to_ you in the halls and not _about_ you and I thought I could keep handling it and ignoring it but I can't so just go!"

The magician felt his face harden; he would not cry, he would not let himself cry! He wanted to so badly but he would not break down here.

Eyes dim, he stood up and left; leaving a stunned Hakuba and a not-his-friend-anymore Aoko behind.

_‘What had just happened?’_ Hakuba wondered as Kuroba walked away. He wasn't sure what he had just witnessed. "Aoko-chan..."

The girl looked at him. "He'll be fine without me. He's always happy and playing pranks. That won't change because I'm not his friend. He has plenty of friends besides me."

* * *

 

As it turns out, that wasn't the case. When Kaito didn't show up the next day at school only Aoko and Hakuba were concerned; everyone else felt relieved at the magician's absence.

Akako was the one that set the girl straight, "Did you not know, Nakamori-chan? Kuroba-kun has only ever been seen in your presence for a reason: most find his company to...how do I say this, odd to be around. The most recent rumor is that Kuroba-kun is secretly wizard that is only pretending to use slight-of-hand to make his tricks seem more impressive."

"But that's not true! I watched Kaito learn magic tricks from his father! He's just really good at it!" Aoko defended her friend before she paused. Could she even call Kaito her friend anymore after what she said to him the day before? Surely Kaito felt the intense pressure of the stares from their classmates, he must have heard what they said about him behind his back and he couldn't have missed that not everyone liked his pranks. But that was just who Kaito was and she had thrown that back in his face as well as the years of friendship that he had given her just because she was starting to feel the pressure. What kind of person was she to do that? What had come over her to do that?

"Maybe we should go to Kuroba-kun's home and apologize?" Hakuba suggested. "I'm sure he will understand that you feel horrible and that you were just caught up in the moment." The blond had never realized how isolated his classmate was as even he, a frequent victim of the prankster, found the magician to likeable to avoid. He rather enjoyed the other teens company every once in a while (especially when it didn’t involve being pranked).

"No, no he won't." Aoko whispered. "Not after yesterday, not after what I said. I told him that I wanted to be normal and that being normal meant that I couldn't be friends with him. He won't forgive that easily with the way everyone's treated him as long as I've known him." She hadn’t even considered it before but now it was obvious as she looked back on the years she had known Kaito.

Hakuba felt a foreboding feeling in his chest. "How have they treated him?" He shouldn't be asking but if he wanted to mend this friendship then he needed information. He ignored the uncertain voice in the back of his head asking him why he cared.

"Like the outcast, the freaky kid that didn't belong and could do strange things that other children our age couldn't. At first he'd just brush it off and everything be fine but the his Tou-san taught him that stupid Poker Face and he just bottles it all up until it's buried deep in his chest and he doesn't know what to do with it." Aoko felt tears well up. "Kaito just doesn't know how to deal with emotions! Especially after his Tou-san died! He stopped dealing with them like a normal person and he'll say he forgives you because he thinks he does but he won't have! He won't have forgiven you because he doesn't know how to!"

It explained a lot. The pranks could be attested to the anger at the rumors and the names Kuroba was called behind his back. The pranks against Hakuba, himself could be explained by jealousy. Kuroba didn't recognize how to deal with something the normal way so he dealt with it his own way. Hakuba frequently stole his only friend from him on a daily basis without even knowing what he was doing and that made the magician retaliate in the only real way that he knew how: prank him. Aoko had never really made the magician's bad side so she'd never noticed the trend and just assumed he'd bottled it all up but Hakuba had to wonder where all Kuroba's other emotions were going. They couldn't all be expressed in pranks. Perhaps his magic tricks? It would explain why he took such joy in performing them.

"I don't think so." Hakuba muttered. "He'll prank you. If he's displeased with a person he tends to prank them. You might not notice because he's never been displeased with you before but that's generally what happens." This gave a whole new meaning to the Kid Heist's as well. If Hakuba was right, the pranks at the heists were because the magician turned thief was annoyed at the lack of challenge his task force presented him.

"Then we'll go see him and I'll apologize!" Aoko could put up with pranks on herself if it meant that her best friend didn't hate her for hurting him. She would put up with anything at this point to make it up to him for her moment of stupid anger. "Let's go!"

She didn't wait for the blond detective as she made her way out of the school, lunch break having just been announced. Akako watched the two go from the top of the school building, curious as to what was going to happen on the day of the summer solstice that Lucifer had warned her about. She had a feeling that she would find out soon if the determined look on Aoko's face was any indicator.

The walk to Kaito's house wasn't long but it felt like an eternity to the trouble teenage girl. Hakuba kept silent during the trip, not wanting to disturb Aoko as she worked on her apology. They walked up to the door of the Kuroba household when they heard the agonized scream.

"Kaito!" Aoko whispered and both of them rushed towards the front door of the house.

* * *

 

Kaito was in pain, a lot of pain. It wasn't because of the fight with Aoko, no he was sure the girl was going to show up soon and apologize at some point. That was just how she worked, it was just anger at how the school had been talking about her behind her back and she'd gotten a taste of what it was like to be on the other side. Kaito didn't blame her at all once he'd sat down and really thought about why she would have snapped like that. No, they would be fine when she apologized, after he pranked her a few times, of course. That was just how he worked. With Poker Face masking his emotions, he had to let out the frustration somehow.

No the pain he was feeling was caused by today being the summer solstice, the day he race reached their final stage of maturity during their seventeenth year. It was just his luck that it coincided with this little fight, though, because he'd forgotten all about the preparations and that fact that he really needed someone else's help during the process. Without that help, he was as good as dead when his wings began to re-grow until they reached their final forms from his back and tore the poor thing to shreds. Kaito was also in no state to call Akako for help and explain the situation to her because he couldn't reach the fucking phone!

So when he heard the door burst open from downstairs, it was both relieving and terrifying. Aoko and Hakuba had no knowledge of anything supernatural and would be completely useless to help him right now. They could, however, call Akako and that was a plus in their favor at the moment. The fact that they could even bypass the wards that his magic put up against the house meant that they were friends and were here to help and would do just that. Faerie magic couldn't be fooled, after all.

It didn't take them long to find him and they could only gape at him when they did. Kaito felt the need to laugh at Hakuba's face as very real magic swirled around the room he was in, making it a rather pretty and frightening sight. "K-Kaito?" Aoko stuttered, shocked. "What's going on here? Are you okay? Oh my god is that blood?"

"Kuroba-kun," Hakuba began, his voice wavering in confusion and concern. "You seem to be in the need of assistance. Is there anything that we might be able to do?"

Kaito felt the urge to grin at Hakuba, the Brit always got right down to the facts of the situation. "C-call Koizumi," Kaito ground out as another wave of pain overcame him and he forced himself not to curl into a ball. That would be a very bad thing right now as it would stretch his back and that was the last thing he wanted when a new of wings was coming in. He wasn't exactly sure how the process worked and where his old wings disappeared to but he did know that he was in pain and that with the absence of another adult Faerie to help him through the birthing of the adult wings he would need the help of a witch, one that he trusted, and the only witch and he even somewhat trusted or even knew was Akako. She hadn't even tried killing him again plus once she knew what he was she would back off on trying to make him her slave. The Witch and Faerie clans had an ancient alliance that would make sure of that.

"I can do that." Aoko said confidently as she darted out of the room to complete her task. Kaito was sure she using it as an excuse not to see the blood that was covering his back anymore. The teenage girl had never been good with dealing with blood and couldn't stand to look at large amounts for a long period of time. Kaito wasn't sure what she wasn't going to do when she went on to be a police officer like her father but he thought that she would probably stay in Division Two instead of Division One so as to avoid most of the blood and gore that came with the worst parts of the job.

"Alright then, what else might we be able to do?" Hakuba seemed determined to be of some help. It was sort of endearing to the pained thief as he shook his head. No he would just have to wait until the annoying Majou got here and was able to help him. The wards would determine whether or not she was a threat and if she couldn't get passed them, Kaito would figure something out. However, strangely the magician wasn't too worried about it. He wasn't worried about it at all.

"This way! Hurry!" Aoko's voice came from the hallway. Kaito blinked wondering how out of it he really was to have not felt the wards register the witch coming in. Two humans were one thing; they had no magical presence whatsoever. A full-blown witch was an entirely different matter that made him wince when he thought about the scolding he would surely receive if his mother ever found out how distracted he'd let himself become. It wouldn't be pretty. Chikage hadn't been the infamous Phantom Lady for no reason, known in both worlds for stealing whatever she wanted when she wanted. An elf turned thief was news, after all. Ugh, he was zoning out again. _'Bad Kaito! Focus!'_ Kaito scolded himself.

"Kuroba-kun," Akako spoke in her most mischevious voice. "Well, this is a surprise. It explains much, though, ne? Now is not the time for chatter, as in co-ordinance with the pact made between the witch clans and the Faerie world, tell me thy heritage so that we may proceed."

"Did she just say Faerie?!" Aoko whispered in shock to the stunned Hakuba. The British detective nodded in stunned silent. "My god," she sat down. Hakuba wasn't long to follow her.

"Deceased Faerie Lord Toichi of the southern lands," Kaito hissed as pain shot through him. "And Elf Lady of the Winter Haven, Chikage, married clan Kuroba." It figured she'd insist on formality at a time like this but Kaito knew that he had no choice if he wanted to proceed with getting this over with. Akako would surely help after that, the son of a lord and lady and a hybrid to boot, would be too tempting to not help out.

"A hybrid of the Faeries and Elves? Very well, we shall begin and talk later." Akako stood and began the chanting. Kaito could translate the language of old in his head with little effort, though Aoko and Hakuba looked lost. "I beseech the gods of old to allow the child of Faerie and Elf his wings, the sign of adulthood on this summer solstice day where your strength reaches the earth. Bless the child of the animal Fae that he may speak their language and guard their homes. Bless the child of the winter elf so that he may guide the snow and ice that lives in his veins as he so wishes. Let his life not be for vain nor allow it to end this day."

Kaito gasped as the rest of his wings burst through the skin of his back and the magic in the room finally settled into his skin. It seemed the gods of old had decided that he was worthy of their blessing, how wonderful. That didn’t, however, stop the pain as the physical changes took place. He ears pointed and he could feel his hair lengthen down to his back, a trait of both heritages. The room felt warmer to him as his core temperature dropped to match that of a winter elf’s and he could feel the worry of his doves from their cages in the downstairs pens. Finally, the magic settled, leaving him gasping on the floor, in pain and feeling more complete than he had all his life.

"There we are the pact has been filled on my part. As in co-ordinance with the treaty, you are to provide the payment of three Faerie feathers. Is this agreeable with you?" Akako waited for the nodded and hummed as she watched Kaito carefully pluck three feathers from the newly grown wings, placing them in the prepared jars that she had brought out of her bag. "I must say, I never expected that you would be the son of the Faerie Lord Toichi and his Elf Lady wife, Lady Chikage."

"You never asked." Kaito looked up, violet eyes sparkling in mischievousness. "It should have been obvious the minute you met me, just as your occupation as a witch was quite obvious to me."

"A failure on my part, I assure you." Akako shielded her eyes with her hair. "You were well within your writes to call a breach of treaty multiple times. I thank you for not doing so; war is the last things either of our people need. Against both the Faeries and the Elves we would not stand a chance."

Aoko sucked in a deep breath as she realized just what she was hearing. Kaito could have easily had Akako's entire race killed for some reason, a good one according to the witch, and had done nothing. That showed a maturity she'd never seen in her friend before. Hakuba was similarly stunned, for more drastic reasons. If what he was hearing was correct, Kuroba was a powerful influence in the society that he came from and had no need to be a thief. That begged the question of, why?

Kaito paid them no mind, focusing on the humbled witch. "No problem, war isn't what either of us want happening. Let's just keep those instances between us and everything should be fine." He turned to the two humans. "I assume you both have questions?"

"What just happened?" Aoko spoke as soon as Kaito was done asking. "And are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Ahouko! You worry too much, it was just a Coming of Age thing that happens on the summer solstice of my race's seventeenth birthday. It's not that big of a deal, usually the Faerie parent is there to help the child through it but since Tou-san is dead I need the help of a witch. I just forgot the dates which is why I needed someone else to call Akako." He didn't need to say what would have happened if the witch hadn't been called. It was already implied.

"Wait if Oji-san was a Faerie how did he die in that explosion?!" Aoko seemed to be in shock, though the question was a fair one to ask. "Wouldn't he have been able to prevent it with magic? Or make sure that everything was completely set before performing onstage? And oh, kami, magic is real?!” Yeah, she was definitely in shock.

All good questions, things Kaito had wondered for a long time himself (except the magic thing, he’d always known that). It was because he had done that and the equipment had later been messed with that Toichi had died. He hadn't been expecting the explosion and hadn't had time to get out of the blast zone until it was too late. It hadn't been a quick death, of that Kaito was sure and that made the rage he felt at Snake and his organization that had murdered his father in cold blood. Aoko seemed to be remembering her father’s investigation and the surety that there was foul play and putting in this new information.

"Kaito..." Aoko whispered. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Oh, what a situation this is Faerie-Elf hybrid." Akako whispered behind him. "Do you tell or do you evade? A simple spell will ensure secrecy...the choice remains yours." She was finding this far too amusing for Kaito's tastes.

"He was killed." Hakuba muttered, frowning to himself. "And you weren't sure until recently, a few years maybe? Then the reappearance and you were curious and had to see who it was because he was dead and it couldn't be him. Was that when...?"

So Kaito didn't really need to tell them anything, Hakuba was already nearly there, missing a few things because Kaito hadn't always known his father was the Kaitou Kid and there were a few more details that had been left out but it was close. Aoko was looking back and forth between them in curiosity and Kaito knew that he couldn't hide it anymore. It figured that when one secret came out so did the others.

"Do you want to hear a story?" Kaito asked, rubbing his eyes. "It started during that dare you gave me, Aoko. You remember right...?"


	3. Book of Knowledge, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shinichi reads a history book that he found in the secret room that his parents told him about. This is the context of that book.

_Chapter One: Werewolves_

_The common myths that are attached to werewolves are completely one hundred-percent true._

_Normal humans were right to feel fear when the full moon shined bright in the sky and only silver could kill the raging monster of moonlight. The werewolf was once a wolf-shifter, bound to the spirit of the wolf unlike their Shape Shifting cousins who are able to take whatever form they will._

_It was a vengeful witch by the name of Morgana Le'Fay that created the werewolves of today. She was angered over the death of one of her favored lieutenants whose name has been lost to time. In her rage she cursed the majestic animals to only have the ability to transform on the full moon. That didn't satisfy her as she slowly twisted their wolf form into a curse that was passed on by bite and those afflicted were overcome by outrageous bloodlust. Silver was their bane, the color of the moon that bound them and over time not even the form of their wolf looked anything like the being they once were._

_Werewolves are dangerous as they loss their human mind during the night of the full moon. Anything that moves the night of the full moon becomes prey in the eyes of the werewolf. It will kill more times than it will leave its prey alive._

_Unfortunately the spell that cursed the Wolf Shifter Tribes has never been found, Le'Fay taking the answer with her to her grave. Some wonder if there will ever be a cure while most infected volunteer as test subjects for researchers in the Supernatural Society so that a cure might be found._

_Those who don't either live in exile to protect others, kill themselves to escape the curse, or lose themselves to the monster they become once a month._

_Werewolves prefer Eastern Europe to the rest of the world. They are few in numbers and most commonly male. Female werewolves will rarely survive their first three months and if they do, they become barren. It is uncertain if this is because of the original curse or if the stress of the transformation disrupting their cycle. Born werewolves have become rare, only happening when an uninfected woman breeds with a werewolf willingly. Anything else, like no knowledge of the curse in their mate causes a miscarriage. The reason why is unknown but it is speculated that Le’Fay is behind the cause._

_Not much else is known of the werewolves as their original history was destroyed by hunters during the witch-hunts of old._

¤★☆¤

Shinichi stared at the end of the chapter, not having expected that the knowledge he had of werewolves could possibly be true or have any truth to them. To think they were a cousin clan of his own clan at one point in history before that curse. He was somewhat glad he had been born in the Shape Shifter Clan as he thought about the horror they would experience, killing without having any sense of their human mind. He shuddered. That would be hell on earth.

It was only Chapter One and he was already dreading the other chapters of this magical self-updating guide to the Supernatural Society and its inhabitants. Oh well, ignorance was dangerous with what he was going to be facing. He would need to learn how to adapt fast if he wanted to make his way in both worlds.

Next Chapter: Vampires. Shinichi fought not to shudder. He wasn't looking forward to having his current knowledge on the species either confirmed or denied. 

"Conan-kun! Dinner time!" Ran called from the kitchen. He hurriedly hid the book a grabbed a Holmes book from the ground besides him as she opened the door to the room he shared with Kogoro. Luckily, the old man was out at the moment, giving him the room to himself.

"Yes, Ran-neechan!" chirped Conan happily as he put the book down and followed her out of the room. Chapter Two would have to wait. For now he had other matters to handle, like why Kogoro hadn't shown up for dinner the last four nights. Maybe a new case...?


	4. Grand Theft

Kaito felt that he must have been a mass murderer in another life if all the crap that he was being put through right now was any indication. Two weeks into his adult changes and he was confident that Aoko and Hakuba were taking the knowledge well enough to pull a heist. Nakamori would get compliant if he gave him a two month break. At least, that's what he told himself.

What makes it better was that Suzuki Jirokichi issued him another challenge to complete so he didn't even have to find a target! It was perfect and Aoko could watch from Jii's perspective while the old man was out of country and Hakuba could actually help him keep an eye out for Snake and his blasted organization!

So why in hell was he staring at a Dwarf Stone of Summons? Those were the rarest and most heavily guarded gemstones of the Dwarf Clan and they weren't likely to let one out of their easily; drawing the question of how Suzuki of all people had gotten his hands on one.

"Aoko, this just got interesting and possibly dangerous. You listening, Hakuba?" Kaito watched the Brit nod as he talked to Nakamori. Hakuba had insisted on being kept in the loop and Kaito hadn’t really seen a problem with that. "That there is a Dwarf Stone of Summons. Not easy to get your hands on and the fact that Suzuki has one is raising red flags. Mind questioning him about it?

"Ah, Suzuki-san!" Hakuba caught the man just as Kaito was finished speaking. Nakamori had already left to check the perimeter guard. He could hear Aoko listening intently with him on the other end. "That's an odd gemstone; I've never seen one quite like it before. Morning Glory, is it called? Where on earth did you acquire it?" Hakuba was doing his best at portraying himself as passively interested in the odd stone and Kaito mentally applauded him.

"That one has a strange story lad!" Suzuk laughed. "I was in Ireland when this gaunt-like fellow approached me with the thing. Said that if I wanted to see the truth of the Kaitou Kid I would need it and left in a hurry. I never saw him again but I brought it straight back here and issued the challenge to Kid. I didn’t have anything to loose, so why not?”

"Fucking god-damned Vampires butting their noses where they don't belong!" Kaito swore vividly. "How'd he convince the Dwarves of this little plot? Did he actually steal that thing because if he did I can't return it to Suzuki! Dammit all to hell!"

“Arigatou, Suzuki-san," Hakuba's voice travelled over the earbud

He had to alert the High Council on Dwarves to his find and that he'd be opening a gate to their underground caverns to return the thing. Last thing he needed was for Snake to get his hands on a real magical gem. "I'll alert the Dwarves, they'll prepare a replacement for me so I have something to send back. You won't be able to contact me for this but I've now got a time limit on this heist. I can't go above thirty minutes."

He didn't wait for an answer.

* * *

 

"Sir Rein!" The dwarf came running into the High Chambers. "Someone from the upper world is contacting us, requesting to converse with you.”

Rein was short, as all dwarfs were, sporting graying hair and in full armor, preparing to go after the fiend that stole their Stone of Summons. From the descriptions of those that had chased after the thief, they were looking for a vampire. "Can it not wait soldier? Can you not see that I am busy at the moment?"

"Sir, he claims to have located the Stone of Summons and wishes to know how to go about returning it." The soldier reported.

"Name! Species! Demands!" Rein barked, infuriated that their prey lost the stone. What thief was it to lose his prize so soon after procuring it? It disgusted Rein to know that they had been stolen from by an incompetent imbecile.

"He calls himself the Kaitou Kid. Species: unknown. Demands: he has none, just asks we make a replica so he has something to return." Rein blinked, Kid huh? Everyone knew of the Moonlight Magician that was so obviously one of the Supernatural Society. He was as much legend as the Phantom Lady who stole for Supernatural and Mortal alike. It was luck that he was the one to find the stone but he had little time until the portal to the undergrounds closed for the month and the stone was dangerous. "Unlock the portal!"

"Aye, sir!"

Kaito had the stone, now he just needed to get to the portal on the top of the building in six minutes. It would be close but he would be able to do it just barely. The police were distracted, anyways.

"Hold it, Kid!" Oh for the love of-! He didn't have time for this! Suzuki was standing in his way, dog in tow. Of course the dog liked him since he had saved him (he wasn't going to let an animal get hurt) but that wasn't the issue! He needed to go! Now!

"Sorry, in a hurry! Play later!" Kaito jumped over him, using ice to make him slip on the floor. Like he said, he was in a hurry.

The roof! He was there, he'd made it! There was the portal too, ready for him. He would jump in and find a way home later. So he did.

He didn't notice the camera on the gemstone's new base.

* * *

 

The Dwarves were waiting for him on the other side of the portal, what he assumed was the King in front. "Kaitou Kid, welcome to the Underground Caverns of the Dwarves! You have brought us something that we thought we would be forced into war over, for that you have our thanks. I am Gunic, King of Dwarves. Sir Rein, head of our army forces, will be your guide while you are here."

"It was my pleasure, King Gunic. It was my complete pleasure. It was coincidently my target for tonight; imagine my surprise when I recognized it as the Dwarf Stone of Summons. Overhearing Tantei-han questioning Suzuki-san made me realize you had Vampire problems." Kid shrugged, eyeing the gem with distaste as it appeared in his hand. "I'll keep the base for the replacement. Suzuki-san's lucky, Dwarf gems are worth a fortune."

"That, this human is. If any other had asked, we would have questioned what you wanted it for but we all know your policy. I'm sure this man will appreciate a jewel that won't potentially kill him and destroy a small country." Gunic hummed as he accepted the gemstone. He placed it in the only empty spot on his crown where it merged immediately. It was impressive to watch.

"Your replacement is ready in the forge. It is the least we can do for the service you have done us." Gunic nodded to him in thanks.

Kid shrugged, "It was my pleasure. It would be disastrous if that fell into the wrong hands. "

The Dwarf King nodded solemnly, "Correct you are, young one. We will not loss it this time. Fool me twice, you will not."

"I don't doubt it.," Kid grinned, eyes flashing as he fought back a Yoda reference. Chances wear that the Dwarf King wouldn’t understand the joke, anyways. "I have taken up much of your time, I'm afraid. You have a Kingdom to run! Let me be out of your way, a lowly thief is nothing to concern yourself with." Kid was laying on the formality, knowing how important it was to keep relations between both his species and the dwarves on pleasant terms. His return of the missing Stone of Summons would improve relations but not enough to feel safe within their kingdom or in the presence of the king. Gunic was already doing him a great service by not announcing his heritage to the rest of the dwarves gathered around them. He would be doing Gunic a disservice by taking up anymore of his time.

"Very well get your replacement. You have our thanks, young thief." Kid nodded to the King as he was led away, presumably towards the forge. Kid felt confident in his conversation with Gunic as none of his subjects had looked offended on his behalf. It was relieving as this was his first dealing with the Dwarves and it would be a shame if he screwed it up because of youth. He suspected that Gunic knew exactly who he was, as the curtsey he was shown was more than a thief deserved. The way he acted alluded that he knew more about him than just his status. Kid couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

"We have arrived," Rein growled as they arrived at double door room. "Wait here, I will retrieve the gem. Get the base ready."

Kid fiddled with the base in his hand, humming. That dismissal meant that Rein still couldn't pinpoint what he was and it was bothering him. Greatly. Well, that wasn’t Kid's fault as he'd never asked the Dwarf to be his guide. He was perfectly capable of waiting where he was and having someone else bringing the gem out to him. He wasn't sure why Gunic wanted what he thought to be a simple thief wander around their tunnels and memorizing the turns and the stops but he decided not to question it. It was well known that Kaitou Kid didn't steal from the supernatural society and focused on the mortal world.

Rein tossed the stone at his head, not fazed as the thief easily caught it out of midair. "So violent." Kid hummed, fitting the gem into the base carefully.

"You have what you came for, now leave thief. King Gunic may trust you but I don't like you. Your magic is strange; I cannot get a read on it." Rein snarled as he led the way back to the entrance area. That would be where Kid would have to open his own portal back to the mortal world as the Dwarf magic would take another month to recharge.

Kid shrugged, not bothered at all by the hostility that he was being shown. He was used to far worse from Snake and his goons. Not to mention the random vampire that wanted a taste of him every once in a while. "Not very scary, Rein-san. I have no ill intent towards you or your kingdom. There is a reason for me to keep my magic hard to read, one that you will never find the answer to." It was annoying talking like this but Kaito needed to keep his and Kid’s speech patterns separate when he was so close to other supernatural and magical beings.

"Humph, be gone." Rein backed away to make sure that he was out of backlash distance as Kid worked. The portal was easy, his elf magic connecting to his drop off point without much difficulties.

"First the gem," Kid hummed, focusing the small portal on the heist location and tossing the object in. Nakamori would find it eventually, especially with that tracker on it. Kid was embarrassed to have missed it in the first place but what was done was done. He couldn't do anything about it now. He changed the destination of the portal to his bedroom and enlarged the size so that he could walk through. "Do give my thanks to King Gunic." He stepped through and disappeared.

* * *

 

"Sir," Himura whispered as he stared at the screen. "Did you see that too?"

There had been no volume but that hadn't made the impact of what they'd seen any less drastic. Magic. Dwarves. Underground cities. Kaitou Kid using freaking magic to open a portal to the heist location that Suzuki Jirokichi had picked out. It was beyond surreal. Nakamori felt that he was justified for being slightly in shock. Completely and utterly justified.

"He just used magic. Real magic. Not stage magic but the real fucking thing." Jirokichi hissed. "Is this what that man meant? That Kid isn't human?"

That was the crux of the problem. They'd tried the camera thing before (only it was miniature robots that time, not a spy camera) and they'd never seen Kid use magic, real magic, before now. If he'd always been able to use this type of magic, why had he only ever used stage magic on a heist against them? What were they missing?

"He replaced the gem with another real gem," Nakamori muttered. "What was so important about that one that Kid was worried? Worried enough to replace it like that? It belonged to them, obviously, but what was so terrifying about it?"

"I don't want to know." Jirokichi decided. "Whatever that thing was it was probably dangerous. I've had enough of the strange events happening tonight so I'm going to go collect my gem and read my name in the papers tomorrow morning. We're obviously hallucinating." The old man left, Lupin following behind him closely.

"I don't think he's right." Hotomi muttered. "There's something more going on here. We're missing something. Something really important."

Nakamori sighed. Damned thief couldn't keep anything simple, could he? "We'll keep this quiet. Kid thought it was a tracker, let him keep thinking that. We saw nothing but remember to keep your eyes peeled for anything strange at heists from now on. We can't afford to be caught off guard because we disregarded a solid lead due to the..."

"Complete and utter insanity of it?" Himura suggested.

"This is Kid we're talking about." Hitaru added. "He does insane stuff all the time."

"Exactly. So we'll meet in the office tomorrow and discuss what we'll do about this. And this tape never happened. The camera was a tracker." Nakamori hit delete on the computer.

They had a plan, because Kid was their case and their mystery to solve, even if it meant delving into the supernatural.


	5. The Book of Knowledge Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shinichi reads a history book that he found in the secret room that his parents told him about. This is the context of that book.

_Chapter Two: Vampires_

_Vampires are blood thirsty creatures of the dark the prey upon unsuspecting blood filled Supernatural beings and mortals alike. They are not picky in their meals and will attack the most convenient prey they can find, depending on how long it's been between their last feeding cycle. There is little known about their origin, as they have been around since the beginning of time and are nearly immortal in the fact that once turned, you will never age or grow ill._

_Vampires are the origin of the 'zombie' stories, as they are in fact undead and a disease spread from the bite. During the Great Blood War, a chemical was developed by the government of the supernatural society that decomposed the flesh of the vampires, giving them the appearance of a corpse rotting away as they lost the ability to properly speak. The chemical broke down their skin and like acid, it tore through their bodies and their organs fell to the grounds as the attempted in vain to carry them as they ran away from the mass extinction. As there were nearly eighty thousand vampires in the world at this time, mortal witnessed this event happening more than once, often falling victims to the vampires bite, turning, and suffering the effects of the chemical themselves. This became the origin of Zombies, which mortals thought to be a completely separate creature other than vampire. The Supernatural Government later named the chemical, Zombie, as a joke among ourselves._

_The war was started due to the increase of deaths in the supernatural population, caused by vampires attacking children and draining them dry of their blood in a deluded attempt to increase their power levels. Faeries, Elves, Witches, and Shape Shifters took the largest hit in their numbers during these times and their numbers have still yet to return to the amount they were before the vampires struck._

_Vampires, when drinking moral blood, have the basic abilities of night vision, stronger than average muscles, and the ability to hypnotize their victims. However when drinking the blood of a supernatural these abilities increase tenfold and are added to depending on the blood they live off of. Shape Shifters give them the ability to create illusions and to communicate with certain animals. Faeries give them many different abilities, depending on the type, the most common being super speed, super strength, flight, and telekinesis. Elves give them some of these same abilities with added manipulation over the elements, depending on the elf that they've fed from. Vampires that fed from these beings were all but impossible to fight, which was the incentive for the Zombie chemical._

_The war was won in twenty years with millions of casualties in all, thousands on both sides. Vampires dwindled down to only a few thousand and hid around the world in small numbers to avoid detection. The Faeries hid their lands in an alternate dimension that could only be accessed by those of their own blood, called the Faerie Lands. The Elves followed suit, creating the Elven Lands. Each dimension was easily crafted into the time stream, a few minutes before and after our own, made so that the vampires could no longer reach them. Unfortunately not all of the Faeries and Elves could go to these lands, having created hybrid families here that they had to look over. This will be looked into in the next chapter: Faeries, Elves, and Hybrids._

_The Shape Shifters were forced to hide among the mortals to avoid detection and gradually, their number diminished even more as vampires found and preyed on them. This will be discussed more in chapter four: Shape Shifters._

_Vampires are dead; they have no heartbeat or organ function. The blood that they drink is to keep their brain active and nothing more. They have no soul, only a shadow of the personality of the mortal they once were. They don't feel pain and the lack of blood flow means they do not bleed. They are nearly impossible to kill._

_A stake through the heart will not work, as their heart is already dead and of little use to them. To kill a vampire you need to cut off the head and burn the body or else they'll just reattach their head and keep coming back for you. Nothing else will work, except for sunlight. Their lack of soul makes sunlight, for some reason, deadly to them. It burns their skin and set them aflame. Once ash, it's best to toss the ashes into the sea to be safe. The dead cannot cross water._

_To be safe from a vampire you must be on hollow or holy ground. Otherwise there is no stopping them at night. A cemetery and church are the safest places but make sure that you check the history first. If the church has been desecrated by murder or suicide then it is no longer holy and you are not safe there._

_Of the worst and most dangerous creatures of the supernatural society, the Vampires are at the top, above even the werewolves. They are smart, clever, and will do whatever they can to kill you. Be warned, reader, they are dangerous._

Shinichi hissed at the ending of the chapter. These first two chapters weren't that long, and he wasn't even sure that he would even need the knowledge until he read about the food that vampires liked to go after more than anything else. That information made him flinch and shudder, he'd have to watch his back that was for sure. It was bad enough that the Black Organization was after him but now Vampires? He just couldn't catch a break could he?

The detective sighed and set the book down. He would have to look more into it later. Ran was going to be here soon and he needed to get ready for kiddy school again. He couldn't wait until they took down the BO because he was getting really tired of going to the second grade. Though he still needed to think of a way to 'get his body back' that would convince Ai. Maybe once it was over he'd ask her for an 'antidote' and miraculously not turn back? It wasn't too odd to think the apotoxin would be worn down by all the antidotes he'd taken in the past. They also wouldn't think he was crazy for saying he was magical. He did not need to be taken to the loony bin, thank you.

"Conan-kun! Are you ready yet?" Shinichi sighed but stood up anyways, hiding the book in his backpack.

"Coming Ran-neechan!" Another day of kiddy school and another day of boredom.


	6. The Black Organization

Conan couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was going to happen soon, something that would allow him to finally regain his body and his life. Or, alternatively, something that was going to end in disaster.

He wondered what it was. Conan sighed as Genta and Mitsuhiko talked animatedly about yet another new Kamen Yaiba show that had aired the night before. He, personally, didn't see what was so interesting about the whole thing. Ai was quietly talking to Ayumi about the new fashion tips in some magazine (when had they started reading stuff like that?) which left him pretty much walking alone, as the fifth wheel of the group. It was odd, as he'd always seemed to be getting dragged into the conversation some way or another but lately it seemed that he was being left out more and more, almost as if he was just the weird other kid that was just…there.

Conan blinked at the thought. As a child, around this age, he'd been the outcast and it looked like those insecurities were rearing their head. He'd wondered if they were going to make an appearance this time around, it happened a lot when he was actually this age and it had honestly surprised him when the three children had seemed to actually like him but it looked like they finally realized that there was something off about him. Conan felt something stir in his stomach, it felt odd and he didn't like it.

"Conan-kun? What's wrong?" Mitsuhiko seemed to have finally noticed him. Conan gave him his best 'I'm fine' look.

"Barou. Nothing's wrong." Conan shrugged. "I'm going to go ahead. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" He didn't look back at the confused faces as he ran ahead of them. It was best this way; he shouldn't have gotten attached in the first place. He'd take down the BO and go back to being Shinichi so it was best to get them used to not having Conan around now. It would make it easier later.

At least, that was what he tried to convince himself of.

"What's wrong with Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked, confused and worried. "He looked almost sad." Ai was watching the retreating detective with a strange look, contemplating his odd reaction. It was unlike Kudo to act so out of character around the children.

"Was he upset that we left him out of the conversation?" Mitsuhiko wondered. "I did not think he liked Kamen Yaiba, as he has never tried to participate before. We thought he would appreciate not being forced to join." Genta nodded, uncertain.

Ayumi huffed. "But that's all you two talk about! You guys talk about Kamen Yaiba and manga and action movies! And we haven't had a case all week! No wonder he was sad, he must think we don't like him anymore, since we haven't talked to him nearly all week!"

Ai frowned, that would make sense if 'Edogawa Conan' was a normal grade school child. But this was Kudo Shinichi they were talking about, the confident and slightly arrogant detective that was sure of himself and could read crimes like a book. Surely he understood what these children were doing? 'Conan' was hardly subtle in his dislike for Kamen Yaiba and the other topics these three seemed to enjoy. So why had he seemed uncertain when he'd left?

There was a scream from further down the street, from the same direction that Conan had run off to. The four glanced at each other before running off because where there was trouble there was likely to be Conan.

Conan was annoyed. He'd just wanted to go home and wallow in pity but nooo, there had to be a murderer/kidnapper right in his path didn't there? Who had a gun pointing at his head and was currently yelling at them to all back away or he'd shoot. _So much for having a normal day,_ he thought bitterly.

"Conan!" Oh great, the Shonen Tantei were here now too. This was the last thing he needed them to see after having run off. He should have just stayed and bared it like he'd done in the past but...he'd never been good at socializing and understanding people. It was why as Shinichi his only friends had been Ran and Sonoko. And Sonoko only hung around him because he was friends with Ran. Everyone else knew him as 'that weird detective nut' or 'the famous Kudo Shinichi'. So, yeah, he had more friends now than he'd had then. Which was sad, now that he thought about it.

"Stay back or I put a bullet in his brain!" The criminal snarled. Gah, why oh, why had Agasa chose now of all days to do maintenance on his watch and soccer belt? He still had the shoes but he couldn't reach them with his hands being held above his head. Damn, this was a bad situation all around.

"Put the child down!" Conan blinked, wow, Satou and Takagi got here quickly. They must have already been called when he'd killed the woman on the floor. "We have you surrounded!"

Bad. That was very, very bad. This man was desperate, which made him dangerous, more dangerous to Conan than to the surrounding crowd. The gun cocked and Conan tensed. He really hated it when he was right.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi looked like she was about ready to cry. So did Mitsuhiko and Genta for that matter. He couldn't fathom why they’d be this upset with his earlier insecurities kicking in and came to the conclusion that he'd taught them too well. They knew he hated Kamen Yaiba. He knew they knew that. Ugh, he hated it when it took being put into a somewhat fatal situation for him to be able to figure people out.

"You're going to back away or the brat gets killed!" The man holding him yelled. There was movement in the corner of his eyes; it looked to be Shiratori-keiji. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one who saw it. The gun moved from his head to his shoulder and fired. He screamed at the burning pain the wound brought.

"That was a warning! Any of tries and the next one goes in his head!" His shoulder burned and he could feel the blood running down it. Ayumi looked horrified and was openly crying while the other two looked shocked. They'd seen him shot before, Conan knew that but it was different when they weren't all together, running for their lives. It was different when they were watching from the sidelines and unable to help. Ai was just staring, eyes wide. He was touched she cared that much.

"Put Conan-kun down!" Megure called out. "We know your name, Natobi Kira. We have your face, fingerprints, and ID. You won't be getting out of here without having all that information plastered across the news, so let the boy go! You're already going to jail for one murder! Don't make it two!"

The man was tensing and it was times like this that Conan remembered that the police could actually do their jobs without help. "It hurts." He whispered quietly, turning wide eyes up at the man and letting them water. "I wanna go home." And it wasn't really hard to act either. It hurt like hell and he was trying hard to keep awake as blood trailed from the wound.

"Sorry, boy." The man whispered, seeming to realize just what he'd done. "I'm so sorry." Conan felt himself drop as the man kneeled on the ground, the gun dropping. He went to move, to dart to the safety of the police lines when pain exploded in his side. A knife. He'd had a knife too. As the man raised the knife to strike again, guns fired and he went down. Suicide by cop. Damnit all to hell.

"Conan-kun!" He was bleeding heavily from the knife wound and the gunshot. "Call an ambulance!"

"Conan!" Genta and Mitsuhiko hung above his vision. "They said you gotta stay awake!"

"Conan-kun can't sleep yet!" Ayumi whimpered. "We gotta make sure he knows we still like him."

Ai seemed to be in shock. It seemed she, like him, had always thought it'd be the BO who'd be his end. How strange it was to die at the hands of a petty murderer. "Stay awake," she ordered. It left no room for arguing.

"G-gomenasai." He muttered, knowing that they were right but...it couldn't hurt to take a small rest. Just for a moment.

"CONAN!"

* * *

 

He was in the hospital. He could tell that much by the scent of antibiotics and the white wall of his room. The room was empty, however, and Conan found that weird.

Edogawa Conan. Kudo Shinichi. Good, his memory was intact. That was always important when waking up in the hospital. Seventeen going on seven and living with his childhood friend Mouri Ran and solving murders by stunning her father, Mouri Kogoro. He'd been stabbed and shot, in the side and shoulder, by a murderer when he'd been running past a crime scene on the way home. Just his luck, really. He'd have been fine if he hadn't been showing some of his insecurities from his time as Kudo Shinichi. He knew that the Shonen Tantei liked him but still...children could be cruel without even meaning to. He just wished they hadn't had to see that.

So why was he alone? Ran or Kogoro should be here, at the very least. The room was empty of any visitors though. So where was he?

"In surgery." A voice spoke. "This is only a physical representation of where your mind expects you to be." He whipped his head around and stopped. What? That wasn't possible.

"Oh but little Tantei, it very much is." Miyano Akemi stared back at him. "Welcome to the in-between, where you will wait to see if you live or die. You lost a lot of blood and your body can't shift back to make enough to replenish what you need."

"I should have read the section on ghosts before vampires." Conan sighed. "I'm out of my depth here."

"Poor little Shape Shifter, so confused and yet, you're doing so well against the Black Organization." Akemi smiled at him. "I must say that I was surprised to learn who you really were. And to see you protect my baby sister! Well, I must say a job well done, Tantei. A job well done indeed. Little Shiho never opened up to anyone easily, yet she's made four new friends. How wonderful it is to watch. Even your parents protected her against Vermouth of all people! I was shocked at your little game. And pleased."

"So why are you here and not my grandfather or someone else related to me who’s died?" Shinichi asked as he changed form. It seemed he didn't have to be Conan here. Convenient.

"Because I have information on the Black Organization that could be crucial to your goal of taking them down." She grinned, back hair shadowing her face. "I made copies of all the data that the Black Organization had on members, even that ever elusive NOC list. I guarantee that they haven't found it either. They didn't even know I copied it! The NOC list, the client list, past illegal transactions, and the list of murders that we've committed and targets that we're going after. How convenient that it's all stayed hidden in my nice little hiding place in the middle of a forest, buried in the ground?"

Shinichi gaped at her. "That information could put them behind bars instantly! The FBI could use it as a reason to get internationally involved and Interpol could also take a swing at them!"

Akemi grinned but there was a darker edge to it. "I knew they wouldn't let Shiho go. You don't leave the Organization. So I made back up plans. Bourbon is getting closer to the truth and Okiya should be careful around him. As a warning."

"Ah." Shinichi nodded. It was good to know that. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Be careful of those with more knowledge of the supernatural than they should have. The Black Organization has a long reach, Shape Shifter. They have members that are more than mortal. Gin and Vodka are human, so is Korn and Chianti but those are all I know for sure. Oh! And Kir, but she's obvious."

"Arigatou," Shinichi muttered, frowning. This made things difficult. If they had supernatural members among the whole of the organization...

"Seek out the Kaitou Kid." Akemi advised, catching his attention again. "He's on their hit list. The information I gathered will tell you why."

"You're awfully sure I'll survive surgery." Shinichi gave her an accusing look.

Akemi shrugged. "You're already out but in a coma. You've been out for three days. You died during surgery for a total of a minute though."

"NANI?!" Shinichi stared.

"Time travels faster in the living world than in here. Coma patients spend a week here to wake up ten years later in the real world. It's not that odd." Akemi smiled. "You'll be waking up now though. They're worried about you. The knowledge of what happened here will stay and so will the location of data and where I hid it due to your more…supernatural qualities.”

Shinichi frowned but accepted it for what it was. "What about Haibara? Surely there's something you want to say to her!"

"You would..." Akemi stared at him, hope blinking in her eyes.

"I died for a total of a minute. I have a lot of knowledge I shouldn't have without talking to you. She'd be crushed if I didn't have a message." Shinichi smiled, knowing the truth of the statement.

"78435t890." Akemi grinned. "5kfda2354. They unlock a password on one of the disks she took with her that day, containing a message just for her. And tell her I'm proud of her."

"What disks?" Shinichi cocked his head.

"Her secrets, Meitantei, are something I will never give up." Akemi tsked. "Now be a good boy and wake up."

* * *

 

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi's voice traveled into his foggy brain, making him groan. "You're awake! Ran-neechan, he's awake!"

Conan felt foggy, and uncertain. Why did everything hurt? A forest. He needed to go to a forest. And a message. He was supposed to give a message. "Come on, we need to get the doctors!"

Ai was standing in the room as the others hurriedly left to find a doctor to check the patient over. Kudo seemed confused and his eyes were glazed so she opted to make sure he was fine by staying here. He was attempting to talk around the breathing tube in his mouth, but having little luck.

"One moment," She told him. If he wanted paper it was the least she could do. He'd died, for an entire minute on the operating table. It was horrifying to think of it now but the baka tantei nearly didn't make it this time. So a pen and paper wasn't as annoying as it was the last time he'd been in the hospital.

Shaky numbers appeared. 78435t8905kfda2354. "What?" She looked up at him. It was a password of some kind then but what for?

She's proud of you. The pen dropped and so did the boy on the bed, breathing labored. It really hit her then. He had died for a solid minute.

She's proud of you.

Ai felt tears well up in her eyes as the boy on the bed fell back into unconsciousness. "Thank you." She whispered as she tucked the paper away, planning to try the password later. Right now she would be a good friend and sit vigil in a hospital room.

The room filled with doctors and well meaning children as Ai sat on the bed, a sleeping Conan on top. Doctors checked to boy over and pronounced that he was fine but they would keep him for the week to make sure. Ran grinned in relief and said she was going to go call the Osakan annoyance, who was crashing at their place since the accident had happened. He would be glad to know.

Ai proclaimed she would stay here for a bit longer, the children being taken home by their happy parents.

"You silly Meitantei," She muttered to the sleeping form of Edogawa Conan. "Don't do that again. I've put too much work into you for you to die now. And thank you. But we're having a talk when you wake up."

She left, not noticing the smile on the sleeping face.

_'You're welcome, Ai.'_


	7. Now What?

Agasa had been more than willing to go and retrieve the information at the location Shinichi provided him once he saw the proof that the young man had knowledge that he logically shouldn't have. Ai had been shocked when the password that the injured not child had given her had opened the file on the disks of Akemi's she'd been able to sneak away from the Organization in her lab coat before they attempted to kill her. Really though, for being a nearly flawless criminal organization it had made a terrible mistake in not checking her pockets, allowing her to keep the APTX 4869 and the disks that she never left anywhere but on her. What a pity for them.

The only problem was what to do with the information that they had gathered and how to use it against the Organization in a meaningful way. Shinichi would have to wait on that until he was released from the hospital and that was another problem in itself. Ran wasn't letting him out of her sight, as if it was her taking her eyes off of him was what had allowed him to be injured in the first place. _As if she could have predicted the insane killer grabbing me as I walked home. Barou._ Shinichi sighed as she once again fell asleep in the bedside chair. This habit wasn't doing any good for her neck.

"Ran-neechan!" He fought the urged to cringe at the high pitch his voice took on when he acted like a child. "You shouldn't sleep like that. It's not good for you."

Ran started awake, blinking at him stupidly for a few minute before sighing at his frown. "Gomen, Conan-kun. I just don't feel comfortable leaving you here all by yourself. What if something horrible were to happen to you because I left?" She fretted, not noticing Conan roll his eyes at her obvious over thinking of the matter. Really, what was going to happen to him in a hospital?

"But Ran-neechan! It's a hospital! Nothing is going to happen to me here!" He protested verbally. She paused, considering.

"It would be nice to sleep in a bed..." She trailed off, thinking hard on the matter. What was so hard about it? She could always come back in the morning! Conan fought the urge to moan in annoyance, as she would surely take that as him being in pain and therefore needing her to stay. While being paid attention to was nice and all, Ran was taking it to a whole new level with her over protectiveness.

"I'll see you in the morning! Go get some sleep!" Conan ordered angrily.

She laughed but followed his orders and left the room in a hurry to get a good night’s sleep before coming back in the morning. Conan smiled fondly at the door she'd just left from and shook his head. "Barou. Get some sleep." Conan yawned and flopped over on the bed, careful of his wounds. He was just glad that he wouldn't have to worry about them for as long as he had last time. One good thing about being a Shape Shifter was the advanced healing factor. He'd learned that when he'd accidently cut himself on a sharp piece of glass at a crime scene a week after his birthday. He'd only been able to stay in wonder as it healed in front of his eyes, not even leaving a scar behind.

He'd estimate, given the research he put into that very subject afterwards, that he'd be completely healed in another day or so. Not the healing rate a Faerie, Elf, or even a Dwarf seemed to have but good enough for him. It was better than staying in the hospital as long as he was used to. The best part was that Haibara wasn't even questioning the fact that he was healing so quickly as he'd always been a fast healer and she was too distracted with the information they'd discovered and whatever that password opened to really pay much attention to how much it had increased. Three days was ridiculous to heal from a bullet and knife wound, after all.

 _'Better get some sleep, the doctors were talking about discharging me tomorrow. I'll worry about the NOC list and the other Intel that Akemi gathered later.'_ Shinichi sighed before closing his eyes.

* * *

 

Weeks, he'd been out of the hospital for weeks and he'd still made no move with what information he had. It was aggravating! Routinely going through hoards of data and seeing all the people that the organization had killed was beginning to make the tantei despair at ever being able to take these bastards down. Really though, it was hundreds of people! Maybe even over a thousand in that last twenty years and this Organization dated back to at least eighty years ago! They'd never be able to name all the victims! And what was a mortal Organization doing existing for that long anyways?!

 ** _"Be careful of those with more knowledge of the supernatural than they should have. The Black Organization has a long reach, Shape Shifter."_**   Shinichi froze as the words drifted back to him and cursed. A mortal Organization had no reason to exist that long but a Supernatural one had plenty of reasons. He wasn't too well versed in Supernatural Law yet but he knew enough to know that messing this badly in the Mortal world would be a death sentence if they were ever caught. It explained why anyone with any knowledge of them was killed; it wasn't to keep the mortals from finding out but the Supernatural World. If they became aware of what was going on and went to the government it would be a massacre. That much Shinichi knew. "It just can't ever be simple."

So it would be better to look at their targets, as one of them would surely be someone that Shinichi could contact and warn, eventually finding someone that could get the big cavalry in to take them out. He'd yet to look at that file so it should prove interesting.

"Let's see, old man, old man, dead, dead, already dead," Shinichi muttered as he went down the list. It seemed that the data was self updating and listed certain people as having been 'taken out'. He stopped when he came to a picture of himself and shuddered. "Oh that's creepy. Okay, moving on. There's Haibara, already dead, already dead. Geeze, these people don't wait around long do they?"

"Wait, is that Kid?!" Shinichi stared at the picture of the annoying magician-thief before clicking on the file immediately. The Organization was targeting the Kaitou Kid? How had they missed that?

**Target: Kaitou Kid**

**Occupation: Annoyance, Magician, Thief, Pain in the Ass, etc. _(Thank you Snake, that's enough)._**

Snake? He'd never heard that code name before but whoever it was clearly hated Kid. Badly.

**Reason: Getting in our way in the search for Pandora. See PANDORA file. Is making sure that we can't get to any of the gems to check them by increasing security after going after them on a heist.**

**IDENTITY UNKNOWN. Was once thought to be famous magician Kuroba Toichi but that was ruled out after we took out Kuroba and Kid still kept showing up. Even still looks like Kuroba**.

**Still searching for identity but it's easier to let the detective, Hakuba Saguru do the work for us. Seems to have gotten a hold of some hair from the Kid but hasn't managed to make an arrest yet. We're keeping our eyes out.**

**For now, shoot on sight. We send out snipers to heist but he manages to dodge somehow even when in flight using that damned glider of his. Though one of the men swore that the glider was wings last heist. I recommend treatment and removal from this task. Clearly over exposure to Kid has given him hallucinations.**

**Kaitou 1412 is one of the few targets that regularly dodges us and seems to be ageless. After his disappearance for eight years, he didn't seem to be any older than a high school student or young adult but still used the same tricks as usual. Can't trust his outward appearance as he's a master of disguise like that damned Vermouth. He seemed to be pissed that we killed Toichi and went into hiding because of that.**

**No other information available.**

"You've got to be kidding me." Shinichi clicked on the internet server and searched Kuroba Toichi. He came up with a notice of death, news paper article claiming it to be a terrible accident. "Bastards. But Kid wouldn't go into hiding because of that."

So they killed the right target which meant the new Kaitou Kid was a relative. "Survived by wife and son, eh?" Shinichi muttered as he read the article. He typed in the name Kuroba and grinned.

"Kuroba Kaito. Age 17 and attends Ekoda High." Shinichi smirked. He was rather good at hacking so all he needed was to get on the website and find a picture of Kuroba Kaito. Kid should have been more careful in showing Shinichi that he could disguise as him without a mask.

Ten minutes later and he was looking at his clone. "Gottcha!" Shinichi grinned. It had only really taken him thirty minutes to find the Kaitou Kid...was that saying something about the police or was he just paying more attention to the clues that Kid left behind than they were?

Gah! He didn't care right now. He was more interested in approaching Kuroba to work together. If they had killed his father and were trying to kill him than Shinichi doubted that he was going to turn down this offer. "Really though, he probably never made the connection since 'Snake' isn't a commonly known alcohol. Damn you, Tou-san, you enjoyed that too much." He was never touching Chinese Wine again!

"So how to approach him..." Shinichi muttered as he printed the hit information out. He'd need some reason that he'd gone to Kid after all. This would just prove to him that they were after the same people.

And really, it could have been so much worse than Kid. At leasst Shinichi knew where the other stood on the topic.


	8. Questions and Answers

Kaito was having a panic attack. He really was. "Oh no. Please not this." He moaned, confusing Aoko and Hakuba as they were staring at a little boy.

"Do you know him Kaito?" Aoko asked, looking at the rather cute child waiting on the Kuroba's front doorstep. "He looks familiar..." She muttered.

"Edogawa-kun?" Hakuba blinked as he finally recognized the child. "What are you doing here?"

Conan blinked back at the other detective in amusement. "Hakuba-niichan! I didn't know you lived in Ekoda!"

"Make it go away!" Kaito whined, hiding behind his best friend. There was only one reason that Kudo would be here. He really should have been more careful when showing the detective he could disguise as him without a mask but the look on his face! It was worth it! So very worth it! Maybe, if he wasn't about to be busted by an apparent seven year old boy that was smirking at him in vengeance.

"Oh calm down, I'm not going to bust you!" Conan chirped. "I just found something in some information I gathered on...certain people you might find interesting. I certainly never expected that you were a target." He tossed a folder at him.

"Eh?" Kaito opened the folder and stared at what looked to be a hit for the Kaitou Kid. "How did...where did...?!"

"Have you ever heard of Snake Wine? It's every popular in China and fits right in with a pack of black trench coats." Conan grinned evilly. "So really, why would I ever bust you now?"

Kaito stared and began cursing up a storm to the surprise of all but Conan. "They had to be connected, didn't they? Now I'll never be rid of you." He whined.

"Just be glad I'm not sending a soccer ball your way after that stunt you pulled with Ran!" Conan growled, eyes seeming to glow in furry.

"Kaito, you have thirty seconds to tell me why a child knows who you are when it took you months to tell me." Aoko said sweetly, seeming to be infuriated.

"They know?" Conan blinked. "Wait...Hakuba knows? And you're not behind bars why?"

"Complicated," they chorused.

"This is going to be a long explanation but we should go inside to start." Conan looked to the thief. Kaito blinked before sighing and moving to open the door. He led them to the living room.

"So, to begin with, my name in Edogawa Conan!" Shinichi chirped. "Sometimes. We'll get into that later."

"Kuroba Kaito, aka the Kaitou Kid." Kaito pouted. This was all his fault, too, and that just made everything worse.

"Nakamori Aoko," Aoko grinned at the blank look on Conan's face before the 'really? You're kidding right?' look was sent Kaito's way. Kaito grinned and shrugged.

"Hakuba Saguru. Now please explain more on that second part." Hakuba was confused and he didn't like being confused.

"Alright. My name is Edogawa Conan, but that's an alias I came up with after a secret organization poisoned me for seeing too much." Conan chirped, keeping on the little kid act before becoming serious. "My real name is Kudo Shinichi. Pleased to meet you."

There were stares. Broken stares.

"I think I broke them." He grinned at Kaito viciously. The magician snickered. _'Well, maybe this could be fun.'_

* * *

It didn't take long for questions to begin. "How?" asked the stunned Aoko. She seemed to be in a type of shock at the moment. "And why aren't you freaking out?!" She rounded on the amused Kaito.

"He obviously already knew." Hakuba sighed. "But I'm unsure why you don't believe him. We've seen stranger things over the last few months."

Aoko opened her mouth to protest that this was beyond strange before closing it. ' _Your best friend is a Faerie Elf Hybrid. This isn't that much of a stretch beyond that...'_ she reminded herself. "Fine, but I still think this is a bit over the top! Kudo Shinichi is supposed to be our age!"

Shinichi hummed as he watched the interactions, inwardly frowning at Hakuba's reassurance. _'Stranger things, huh? Now why does that make me want to have a long discussion on secrecy with Kid?'_ Honestly though what was stranger than a teen turning into a child again? _'Granted I can turn back whenever I want now, but that's beside the point. The hit did say that one of the mortal BO members swore they saw wings...so I have to wonder if Kid is mortal at all.'_

"Anyways," Kaito interrupted. "I’ve always wondered how you got pint sized. I've never really been able to figure it out and I've been assured by multiple sources that it shouldn't be possible." Meaning that Akako had no idea on how to change a full grown teen into a child while leaving them their memories of adulthood. So that ruled out magic. Which left Kaito hanging.

"A really annoying poison that has odd side effects if it doesn't kill you." Shinichi narrowed his eyes. Assured it shouldn't be possible? Everyone knew science couldn't do that (well they thought it couldn't, anyways). "APTX 4869, also known as the Apotoxin, is a untraceable poison that is overlooked autopsies and kills 99.99% of its victims. Unfortunately that .01% left is where I fall."

"Science. You were de-aged by science..." Kaito starred at the not child. "How does that work?" He was curious, damn it! He'd never seen this before and as a magical being, that was saying something.

"Painfully. With steam. And screaming. I've been told that there's a lot of screaming." Shinichi deadpanned. "Usually I'm unconscious though, so I wouldn't know, you'd have to ask Hattori. Or Haibara. Or Agasa-hakase. They'd know better than me."

"Hattori. As in Hattori Heiji?" Hakuba asked in distaste.

"Yup. Found me out after meeting me twice, the baka." Shinichi said fondly. The idiot was his best male friend after all; he was allowed to insult him. "Wasn't about to stay out of it once he found out what was going on. Stubborn..." He trailed off sighing. "But I assumed that you both were going to be the same with that moron so we might as well clear things up now. How much have you told them?"

"Everything about Kid." Kaito sighed. "They caught me at a bad time so there wasn't much choice."

"Then they need to be careful around anyone that isn't you and their immediate family." Shinichi warned. "These people may have failed at killing you but that's because you've confused them on your identity. Otherwise you and your entire family and everyone you might have told would already be dead."

Kaito paled. "What?!"

"Mostly because they would assume that your father hadn't kept quiet about who he was and they kill everyone they even think has any knowledge of them." Shinichi warned. "They've been known to kill their own people before just because they would have likely been taken into police custody. These guys will do anything to stay in the shadows. You get too close and they put a bullet in your head or arrange a tragic accident. Either way, you're dead."

"Shit." Kaito was pale. He had only ever dealt with Snake before and the man hadn't given him any confidence on his organizations abilities. "How are you not dead then?" Not that he was upset about that but he would need all the advice he could get.

"They thought I was." Shinichi deadpanned. "It's not like they know what happens in the .01% range. I was the first. Plus one of their own labeled me as dead for the longest time, which threw them off until she managed to escape them after they killed her sister and took the drug herself."

"Oh. That's helpful." Kaito sat down heavily in the nearest chair.

"Mmm," Shinichi nodded in agreement. "But if you want to stay under the radar, avoid being accused of being Kid. Otherwise they might kill you on principle of your relation to the first Kid."

Hakuba lost all color in his face as Aoko whimpered. Shinichi sighed. "How many times?"

"Ummm," Kaito frowned. "Daily? Since he moved here? I think...but I always had alibis for a few heists so it was discarded by the police."

"How did you manage that, anyways?" Aoko finally asked. "Tropical Land is so far away from your heist that night! And you knew what they movie was about!"

"I watched it later." Kaito grinned. "And you really should make sure that he who is handcuffed to you isn't a balloon person."

"What about when I had you handcuffed to me?" Hakuba frowned.

"Akako." Kaito said, like that explained everything. Apparently to those who knew who that was it did.

"That explains the broom." Hakuba sighed. "No one could figure out why Kid was riding a broom of all things."

A witch. They knew a witch. Which explained all the knowledge of magic they seemed to have. Shinichi wondered what type of witch would flaunt what she was like that, as from what he had read so far witches preferred secrecy to having mortals know what they were. Not many played on hiding in plain sight. Shinichi wasn't sure he wanted to meet this witch, less she give away what he was. Witches could always tell when a Shape Shifter was around, something about the magic that was always surrounding them to keep them in a certain form. Even if it was their natural form.

"Alright, so you got poisoned and are now a shrimp." Kaito summarized. "These people kill everyone that knows about them and are horrible to be around. Snake is a bastard that killed Tou-san. Anything else before I tell you my half?"

"The FBI and the CIA are in Japan working on bringing them down. They had plants in the Black Organization but the CIA plant had to kill the FBI plant to keep her cover after he was discovered." Shinichi began summarizing what he knew. "Jodie-sensei, the FBI agent has no idea who I am but knows I'm connected with the Black Organization somehow and keeps me updated. Haibara Ai was once code name Sherry, the scientist that developed the Apotoxin. They killed her sister in cold blood, leading her to betray them and take the Apotoxin, making her way to Agasa's once she realized that was how I'd survived. She'd known beforehand that something wasn't right when they had searched my house and children close were missing but she'd labeled me as dead anyways since I intrigued her. Vermouth, also known as Chris Vineyard, is one of Black Organizations top members. She knows exactly who Haibara and I are but for some reason she stopped trying to kill Ai when Ran jumped on top of her. She calls Ran 'Angel' and refers to me as 'Silver Bullet'. She has yet to rat us out to the Organization for some reason, stating that 'A secret makes a woman, woman' in English when asked why. She's a disguise specialist that rivals you and is a complete unknown. I do know that she should be known as Sharon Vineyard and is passing for her own daughter. The Organization thinks Haibara's dead thanks to your help on the Mystery Train-"

"Oh! That's why you had me do that!" Kaito exclaimed in surprise. He'd been wondering what that was about...wait, that was Snake's Organization!? Shit!

Shinichi glared at him for interrupting before continuing. "Vermouth has given up on Haibara completely now as we tricked her. Gin and Vodka are dangerous and sleeping gas or tranquilizers won't work on Gin. I've tried. They were the ones that attacked Toutou Tower a few months back and are behind hundreds of murders that take place all over Japan. The Organization has been, from what I've found, active for at least eighty years if not more. They blew up at least one two towered hotel that I know of to kill one person. They had a computer designer come up with a secret program that he quit building to 'protect humanity'. So far, that's all the really necessary information that I can think of at this moment. Anything else I remember and I'll tell you."

"...That's a lot." Kaito whispered, wide eyed. "Eighty years?!"

"Yes, at least. They're also deeply rooted into the police. You can identify they by the child's song Nantsu no Ko, the email address they use to contact the boss of the Organization." Shinichi rattled off information.

"A child's song?" Kaito raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wouldn't anyone be able to find them, then?"

"Don't ask me why they used it!" Shinichi snapped. "I'm not a criminal mastermind!"

"True." Kaito allowed. "So here's my side I guess. You already know about killing my father. What you don't know is why. They're after a jewel named 'Pandora'."

So went the story of how Kaito found out the reason for his father's death. Shinichi was understandably shocked at the end.

"You're joking."

"Not in the slightest."

"A magic jewel that grants immortality, a secret computer program that the designer thought would end humanity, and biochemist and chemist being recruited by the day." Shinichi rubbed his temples. "Just what are they after?"

"Got me. My job is to find it first and break it into a thousand tiny pieces." Kaito shrugged, frowning at the information. What would they do with all those components? He would be hard pressed to think of any use for them, let alone a world dominating use.

"Great. Well this has been very helpful in making them even more confusing but it doesn't help the harder aspects of things. The Organization is not something to be messed with lightly." Shinichi warned. If they knew a witch, then all the more he could discuss with them without sounding insane. "Right now, Ran is probably waiting for me so we'll discuss more later." After he decided how much he wanted to tell them, or even just Kaito.

They followed him to the door before he stopped and sighed. He should give a least a warning, the witch they knew would understand what it meant at least. "The information I got, the person that gave it to me had a warning." Shinichi looked at them darkly. "Be careful of those with more knowledge of the supernatural than they should have. The Black Organization has a long reach."

He took off without looking back at their stunned faces.

Kaito watched the detective leave. "Please tell me you both heard that."

"I heard it." Aoko confirmed. "But I'm not believing it. Nor am I believing that's a skateboard! Is he doing fifty?!" Kaito cocked his head to the side as he watched Kudo vanish from sight. It did look like he was going faster than the cars…

Hakuba frowned. "We mentioned Akako and her riding a broom. He must have figured that we knew someone with otherworldly abilities and so he should warn us and them. However, that he put any stock into that warning with his reputation as logical and having no belief in the supernatural leaves me with wondering why he'd think that we'd need it."

"He didn't seem to think that they were insane for looking for a magical gem either, just that he couldn't figure out why they would even want it." Aoko frowned.

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "The wards would have told me if a magical being passed over them. At least, they should have. I'll interrogate him on the matter later, for now we need to discuss this with Akako. If Snake is part of a mortal and supernatural organization than we need to figure out what to do. Messing this badly in mortal affairs and for eighty or more years, is a severe breach of the Supernatural Laws."

"He knew we knew a witch. He made sure that we knew to tell her there were Supernatural members among the Organization." Hakuba frowned. "Would a mortal have anyway of finding out these Laws? Because it seems to me that Kudo-kun did that on purpose."

Kaito blinked and sighed. "No, only magical beings can read our literature. It's in the magic woven into our ink. Tantei-kun just loves messing with my reality, doesn't he?" Kaito muttered, annoyed.

"No use in dwelling on it. For now, we've got a witch to go see. If he does hail to the Supernatural Society than I won't give him the satisfaction of knowing a Faerie came forward with the information and not a witch." Kaito wanted to know why his wards didn't alert him to a magical presence first. It wouldn't due to be caught unawares again.

Shinichi grinned as he sped away, strike one against the Organization. It would be hard to move with the Supernatural Society breathing down their necks, wouldn't it? Information gathering time was nearly over; it was almost time to strike.

This battle was just beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the short chapter but as I'm writing this on a 3DS I have an actual limit to how much I can write. Who knew?


End file.
